Revision 411722990 of "Sylvia Stark" on enwiki

{{Orphan|date=January 2011}}

'''Sylvia Stark''' is a [[Canada|Canadian]] businesswoman who was President and CEO of the Miss Canada International 1996 and Miss Teen Canada International 1998 competitions. In 2003 Stark started a campaign to save a woman in Nigeria who had been sentenced to death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock after being raped. The petition which she organised result in the life of the woman being spared.

Inspired by the devastation of the [[2004 Tsunami]], Stark founded the ''Teddy Bears of Hope campaign'' which sends new and used teddy bears to children in areas affected by war and turmoil.<ref name=myk>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.mykawartha.com/article/8660
 |title=Teddy Bears bring hope to children in need
 |work=mykawartha.com
 |accessdate=22 December 2010|date=17 November 2007|author=Debbie Bruce
}}</ref> Stark explained "We wanted to create something that didn’t cost money, that everyone could be involved in. Something to fill that emotional void in the children."<ref name=myk/> Pageant contestants collect teddy bears to be sent to given away.<ref name= ab>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news/story.html?id=8f266627-4be4-464f-8011-0408741c38f9
 |title=Hoping for the best
 |work=Abbotsford Times|date= 13 June 2008
}}</ref>Since then, thousands of bears have been collected and sent to countries such as  Thailand, Cambodia, Guatemala, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Uganda.<ref name=myk/><ref>{{Cite web
 |url= http://www.teddybearsofhope.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=5 |title=Testimonials |publisher=Teddybearsofhope |accessdate=3 February 2011}}</ref>

==References==
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME              =Stark, Sylvia
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Sylvia}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
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[[Category:Canadian businesspeople]]


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